Radhika Veena Sadhika | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Radhika Umdekar Budhkar 1982 (age 43–44)[1] Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Occupation | Vichitra Veena and Sitar Player |
| Parent(s) | Shriram Umdekar and Smruti Umdekar |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Indian classical music |
| Instruments | Vichitra veena |
| Website | www.veenavenuartfoundation.com |
Radhika Umdekar Budhkar also known as Radhika Veena Sadhika is a vichitra veena player and veena teacher from Madhya Pradesh, India. She is the world's first woman vichitra veena player.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Sadhika comes from a family ofmusicians who migrated to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh several generations ago.[2] Her grandfather Balabhau Umdekar was a trained vocalist in Gwalior Gharana.[3] He was also the court musician of Scindias, the rulers of the then princely state of Gwalior.[4] Similarly, her father Shriram Umdekar who is a sitar and rudra veena player, used to play and teach sitar, surbahar and rudra veena.[3][4] Radhika started learning music from her father.[3] Her first vocal performance was as a child.[3] She first studied classical vocal and sitar.[3] By the time she was 12, she began to be known as a sitar player, earning a double MA and several gold medals.[4] After much research, she and her father got to know about the Vichitra VeenaTemplate:Clarification and she began to play the instrument.[3] Because of the size and weight of the Veena many did not learn how to play the instrument. Later, she trained under mohan veena maestro Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.[3] Currently she resides in Navi Mumbai, where she runs her Institute Veena Venu Art Foundation.[5]
Musical career[edit | edit source]
Sadhika started her music education by studying classical vocals and sitar and later started focusing on vichitra veena in her early teens.[3] She is recognized as the world's first woman vichitra veena player.[4] She performed at the Saaz-e-Bahar at NCPA, an annual instrumental music festival organized by the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA).[3] She introduced a lighter and improvised version of the instrument.[5] While the traditional vichitra veena is 5 feet long and weighs 5 kg, Radhika's version is only 48 inches long and weighs 2 kg.[5]
Sadhika has won several fellowships and scholarships and has performed at many music festivals in India.[6] Besides performances, she also teach veena at the Veena Venu Art Foundation at Navi Mumbai.[3]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "Sangeet Sat Nov 6 with Sangeet Team on WPRB Princeton 103.3 FM". spinitron.com. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
- ↑ "One of a kind". DNA India. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 Kusnur, Narendra (2018-04-05). "Of sur and tone". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "How the world's first female vichitra veena player found the instrument that spoke to her soul". Firstpost. 2018-04-07. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Basu, Indrani. "Navi Mumbai musician creates lighter Vichitra Veena | Navi Mumbai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
- ↑ Vandana, Shukla. "Of a vichitra girl and her veena | undefined News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2022-06-11.